CONNECTICUT WOMAN BARRED FROM PREPARING FEDERAL TAX RETURNS FOR OTHERS & FROM PROMOTING TAX FRAUD SCHEMES

WASHINGTON - A federal judge in Hartford, Conn., has issued a preliminary injunction order against Sunita Buddhu, the Justice Department announced today. The order precludes Ms. Buddhu from preparing federal income tax returns, amended federal income tax returns and other related documents and forms for others. Additionally, the order prohibits the Wethersfield, Conn., resident from representing customers before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS); advising, assisting, counseling or instructing anyone about the preparation of a federal tax return; and promoting tax fraud schemes. The court had entered a temporary restraining order against Ms. Buddhu last month.

The court found that Ms. Buddhu prepared tax returns for Paradise Consulting Services, a tax preparation business started by her father, Deowraj Buddhu. After her father was incarcerated on unrelated state charges in 2005, Ms. Buddhu took over Paradise Consulting and began operating a tax return preparation business under the name Lotus Consulting. Since 2003, the Buddhus have prepared several thousand individual federal income tax returns, many of which the court found contained deductions on Schedule C that were inflated, had no basis in fact, or were not permissible under the Internal Revenue Code. In addition, many of the returns contained false Schedule E deductions. See, USDOJ.